State says evacuation plan ‘would work’

Monday

Jun 13, 2011 at 11:28 AMJun 13, 2011 at 11:29 AM

HAMPTON — The assistant director of the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management believes the current evacuation plans for the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant are sufficient, despite the refusal of some SAU 21 teachers to accompany students on outgoing buses should a public evacuation of the region ever be necessary.

Shir Haberman

HAMPTON — The assistant director of the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management believes the current evacuation plans for the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant are sufficient, despite the refusal of some SAU 21 teachers to accompany students on outgoing buses should a public evacuation of the region ever be necessary.

“If schools were in session and we had to do an evacuation, it would work,” Kathy Doutt told the audience at a public hearing on Seabrook Station safety held on June 8 at the Galley Hatch Conference Center at the Best Western Hotel in Hampton. “It may not be pretty, but it would work.”

Herb Moyer, the president of the Portsmouth-based environmental watchdog group the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, raised the issue during the meeting. Moyer voiced concerns about the adequacy of the evacuation plan for the nuclear power plant, based on discussions Seabrook teachers had with state emergency planning officials on April 18.

At that meeting, teachers for the first time addressed what they call a critical flaw in the state’s emergency evacuation plan for events at Seabrook Station. While the current emergency plan states teachers are charged with getting students on evacuation busses and accompanying them to a designated reception center, a 1987 state Supreme Court ruled teachers cannot be required to assume the role of providing assistance to schoolchildren in the event of an evacuation.

Teachers made it clear they are not part of the plan because they needed to attend to their own families in the event of a nuclear emergency. They said state officials need to once and for all determine who would take on the responsibility to ensure students safety.

“I think the real extraordinary development today is the acknowledgment by these representatives and the governor that we have a problem here, and there are significant deficiencies in the plan,” teacher Diane Dunfey said following the meeting. “The reason we brought this forward is because we care about the children and their safety.”

The meeting came on the heels of Dunfey and 47 of her colleagues at Seabrook Middle School sending a letter to Gov. John Lynch asking him to address the evacuation plan.

Dunfey said teachers have brought up these concerns numerous times over the years. They decided to try again, she said, after the recent events in Japan where the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants are still leaking radioactive material in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck the island nation on March 11.

Dunfey said when teachers were first assigned responsibility of evacuating students under the plan, a survey revealed that 97 percent of those within the entire evacuation zone would be unable to assume that task for family reasons. She said the plan states teachers are trained to react in the event of a radiological emergency and that is not the case.

“I can tell you that the staff of the school doesn’t know how to proceed,” the middle school teacher said. “I can tell you that the children of the school do not know how to proceed.”

At the June 8 meeting, Moyer also asked Doutt about rumors school bus drivers charged with evacuating SAU 21 students would not come into the area if a nuclear accident occurred. Doutt said officials are looking into that rumor but that alternative transportation has already been contracted.

“We are double-checking that (rumor), but we have memos of understanding with the teamsters and National Guard (to drive evacuation busses in the event of an emergency),” Doutt said.

The Homeland Security assistant director also noted the state has worked out a system of what she called “precautionary transfers.” That practice calls for evacuating students to reception centers as a precaution after an incident has occurred at the power plant but before officials have confirmed whether any radioactive material has been released as a result. She said that should relieve the concerns of drivers coming into the area to pick up students.

“We will do that without a release (of radioactivity),” Doutt said. “Evacuation means there’s been some release.”

As a follow up to the April meeting, on May 18, the superintendents of schools located within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) around Seabrook Station met to discuss the situation with teachers. SAU 21 Superintendent Robert Sullivan said it was the first of several meetings that will take place concerning this issue.

“We will look at various elements of the (emergency) plan that effect us individually, but also talk about concerns that we share,” Sullivan told the North Hampton School Board on May 19.

The SAU 21 superintendent said the goal of that first meeting was to share information about April 18 meeting.

“There’s been nothing done as far as changing anything,” Sullivan said. “There has been no date set (for a subsequent meeting), but we hope to do something before (school vacation) starts.”

The superintendent characterized the state as “being very responsive and helpful” in addressing the issues brought up by the teachers.

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service